This thread is so that we can keep all the discussion, rumors and speculation in one place.
This topic is for a friendly discussion of ideas and suggestions for Fallout 4.

We all have opinions about what the next game should have and should not have. Each of us may express that opinion freely. There are points we agree on and points we do not agree on. This means that people are going to disagree with you on some things. Accept that and move on. No need to beat your point so far into the ground that no one wants to look at it any more.

At moderator discretion, threads about specific and distinct topics as they relate to FO4 and the rest of the Fallout series may be acceptable in the Fallout Series forum. General idea/suggestion topics for a future Fallout game will either be closed, or moved to this one.

This thread should be used to discuss items you'd like to see in a future game, gameplay tweaks, quest ideas, things you hope are not in the next game and so on. If you want to discuss major issues, use a separate topic - such as the discussion about adding multi-player or co-op play, which already has a thread. Please search first to see if there is an active/recent thread on a particular topic.

Something to note. Discussions of Child Killing is not allowed on these boards. Don't even bring it up in this thread. It won't happen in any future game from Bethesda, so there is no reason to even discuss it. If you post about this subject, you may be Warned and or Banned from the boards for doing so.

This is also not a thread to discuss current or past Fallout Games, other than to mention an aspect of the game you want to see included, or not included, in a future Fallout game.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1517140-fallout-4-speculation-ideas-and-suggestions-253/

Suggestions:

-Begin again

-Let go

-Know your history

-Men change

Edit: Forgot the most important one: War never changes.

Make a game about war, not about a world that features war. Make the world the story, a story about war. That means make the war omnipresent.

Fallout 3 and New Vegas made a good job with the schematics and the weapons mods, but still not the ideal.

Again: Make a cool system of customization of weapons. The first thing that others and I think when start a new build is the choice of weapon.

It is rewarding to work hard to get that single weapon, reliable.

Usually I walk with three weapons. A primary, a secondary, covering the main deficiencies of the primary (cost of vats, rate of fire, etc.) and a support, may be explosives or melee depends.

IMHO, it would be great if we had an option to integrate various options in a single weapon, the weapon you will be identified.

For example. Let′s say you find or build a rifle (guns) and you can adapt to it one grenade launchers (explosives) and a bayonet (melee).

So, with a touch of a button, you could change the style of this weapon to adapt to the fighting in front.

edit: like this

http://s738.photobucket.com/user/The_Man2009/media/Biggestgunever.jpg.html

Electro-shock stun ammo for shotguns.
Like this: http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj125/Gizmojunk/TASER_Shotgun_Ammo_zps629921c4.jpg

(And of course with situations that can benefit from stunned NPCs rather than killed ones).

New Vegas has bean bag ammo that causes fatigue and knocks out the enemy. It's not like a stun gun, but does the same thing.

-No being forced to level up/take perks. Seriously, who the HELL thought that was a good idea?
-None of that dumb "you cant even TRY to do X until threshold is met" stuff, the world does not work that way.
-None of this "every faction is garbage and unlikeable" story telling. Make me WANT to pick every faction, and agonize over which is the best, rather then the easy way out most RPGs take by just making every faction unlikeable garbage.

-If they just have to include item decay, use NV's decay system where items don't lose effectiveness until a certain point.

-Crafting system more like Fallout 3's. Make it reward the player for investing time/skill points into it with unique items that offer unique gameplay mechanics. No more of this bloated list of 50000 food/chem items you dont need, or can find in the wasteland with ease, that NV had. Also, make ammo crafting not as terrible.

-If they have to have a faction rep system, add in Skyrim's bounty removal system so you don't magically gain/lose rep for things no one was left alive to report.

-Similarly, if they have to have a disguise system, make it require a body AND head piece to work. Also, tie a perk or two into it so that you can learn your enemy to the point even higher level officers can't see through the disguise unless you talk to them.

-No ironsights....... seriously...... this is not CoD/BF.

-No super Mutants or Enclave, unless it's super token like it was in NV.

-No forcing the player to have to visit every faction to complete the MQ, this is not how the world works. We don't need every random Joe Schmo on our side to beat the enemy, and its nothing but poor story telling at its worst.

Romantic relationships with companions or NPCs.

Realistic population dynamic where there should be more children NPCs that you can interact with while keeping it realistic (kids not wandering the wastes).

Ghoul character option, comes with obvious perk advantages regarding radiation but could hinder some special points.

Charisma to be altered to give different dialog options, many find that putting points into it for just skill points and for companion advantages is pointless. So they ignore it and put it to 0.

Pipboy changes, a later model? Allowing the devs to add other features.

To the chap above, NV had options to enable and disable iron sites... Good points though.

I agree with everything aside these two here:

-I enjoyed having to craft healing recipes using materials and it should include some different choices; however, it shouldn't be done as NV did. In NV everything besides Desert Salad was worthless. They should instead have some rarer ingredients and some common ones.
-I HUGELY appreciated the addition of iron sights. It allowed me to enjoy the game to a much greater degree than Fallout 3. I have a tough time going back to Fallout 3's combat in fact. Besides in New Vegas you didn't HAVE to use them because they allowed it to be toggled on and off. I think it should be the same for Fallout 4: Give me the options instead of taking away my options.

Own suggestion: Quit the stimpak BS. I'm tired of having over a hundred stimpaks, tens of thousands of caps and ammo up the wazoo. I realize this isn't some survival horror game, but we're talking about a post-apoc scenario in a country that was nuked during a RESOURCE war. There wasn't abundance of everything and even if there was there shouldn't be over 200 years later. Damn near everything should be gone aside from locations like Dead Money, OWB and Lonesome Roads.

Regarding having too many resources in a post apocalyptic universe. Stimpacks can be created, it is not a finite resource... Development has made the wastes self-sufficient, making the game overall like dead money (which I assume you're getting) could take away the essence of the game. However the currency could be improved to be more realistic, in NV it was very easy to get rich.

If you go to Fallout PnP and look at it's "Crafting" page, this is what I like.

http://falloutpnp.wikia.com/wiki/Crafting

No they are only craftable in New Vegas. In the originals they are far rarer. -- **I think I was wrong here. In my multiple playthroughs I was never able to, but wiki says Myron can craft them. Anyone else have more info on this??? **How come the Follower's can't craft stimpacks? They mentioned getting by off of scavenging hospitals..

What development in Fallout 3? There was zero development. People sat on their butts all day and even slept in disgusting homes with corpses and debris. Where is the development that allowed me to have over 500 stimpacks, a nearly unlimited supply of ammo and probably more cash than Tenpenny?

Supplies should not be everywhere. I should not find ammo, weapons, money and chems right outside civilization because the prospectors apparently like to grab scrap metal instead. There were far less resources in Fallout 1 in an area that was apparently much better off than DC (not to mention it took place 120 years earlier). How does that make sense? Bethesda just tosses stuff everywhere so the player can "explore" and grab everything, even if it doesn't make any sense.

FoT has EMP ammo for shotguns. Rips robots apart. Need to bring back Yuma Flats and when hits enemies with crits, electrocutes them so that you can see their skeleton light up under their flesh.

Also, Myron can make stims and super stims. I would assume FoTA and such, other scientists, docs can make stims, which they sell when they restock.

NV also has pulse shells. I agree on the pulse rifle though.

Thanks for the correction. I never encountered it in my playthroughs, but then again I don't particularly like Myron. Is it that easy to create? Or does it require a genius like Myron who invented jet? -- Why is jet on the east coast?!

This is good list.

Stimpaks give the impression that they are very high-tech nano-meds in Fallout; military surplus. In Fallout 2, Myron can make them; Myron can figure out anything, he's a chemical engineering prodigy. He asks the PC for a syringe, and two plant specimens as raw material. With those three components, he returns a functional stimpak. This I would say, follows the humor, but I would call it a mistake to assume that all anyone needs is those two plants to figure it out. Myron figures it out, and who knows what else he did during the process; what else he added, or what he was able to synthesize from other drugs, other plants...other whatever.

This should never have been foolishly taken for the literal mixing of the two... and then voilà ~a stimpak.
I thought it was idiotic to include that in New Vegas.

1) There are some other great craft itens like Rushing Water, slasher, bleak venom, weapon repair kit and snakebite tourniquet, but I got your point. Agree.

2) Dont worry, I'm sure that Bethesda will have the conscience to not take a game feature appreciated by many, just because someone does not want to spend 2 seconds of his life, to enter the menu and disable the option that he does not like.

3) Agree with stimpaks and especially caps. Strongly disagree about the ammo.

Like you said, this is not a survival game. If you are playing a Gun character, you need ammo, simple like that.

Guns already lost completely to melee/unarmed (lets call m/u)

. m/u perk are far better and broken

. m/u weapons normally last longer

. m/u does not end, unlike ammunition

. m/u dont need reload

. most of this kind of weapon is silence

. m/u ALWAYS disarm an opponent, especially if he's holding a large weapon

. some m/u weapons ignore the DT/DR

. unarmed has nice special moves

. m/u can block. This is a BIG advantage. I do not know how much damage is absorbed, but lets say 80%?

. depending on the m/u weapon, can strike faster than a revolver. Chance′s knife for exemple, with slayer and rushing water maybe is more faster then a machinegun.

. You really cant miss a strike with m/u lets be honest here. Guns? Not so sure.

The benefits of firearms are in safe distance (only in some cases) and can target the limbs during VATS. But with reduced amount of ammo, whats the point?

Agree with not find ammo everywhere, but if I have the caps, I should be abble to buy large stocks of ammo at least in one or two NPCs (just like in NV). Thats how the World works. It′s just ammunition, not diamonds or Faberge egg.

Much higher hands-on impact on gameplay from skills and stats.
- Gun skills affecting accuracy (i.e. sway, recoil control) rather than damage.
- Utility skills provide a probability check against the task rating (no minigames, or toggleable at most).
- Straightforward skill checks, both passive and active, around the gameworld to provide character based interactivity. Eg. Constant perception checks for possibilities of spotting something that's otherwise not visible (traps, secret doors, interactable objets, items...), player initiated strength checks on certain heavy objects or applying outdoorsman on an appropriate object, and the like.
- Much more frugal skill/stat/experiencepoint economies and increased XP gaps between levels.
- If still using the 1-100 skill range, split the skills at the 50 point mark to two specialization branches (i.e. Guns into pistol grip and rifle grip, medical into doctor and pharmacist, stealth into sneak and steal, and so on) and increase the skillpoint costs for increments (i.e. 51-75 2:1, 76-100 3:1). To provide a requirement for more comprehensive specialization to get to the master level proficiencies and not just hand out things practically for free.
- Perks that offer greater impact and affect things outside the straight skill effects and that are handed out every 3 levels.
- A reasonable number of traits that offer hefty bonuses and defects to provide a wide range of unique character archetypes, and which are optional.
- Overall more character centric gameplay, as opposed to player centric where the character is cast aside.

Redesign VATS to work as a comprehensive and legit combat mode akin to combat in Wizardry 8 to support turnbased gameplay alongside the inevitable real time shooting. The basics already exist.

Don't simply make it a TES clone; an open world shooter-simulator with core focus on sightseeing and rummaging through random and irrelevant dungeons.
- More focus on reactivity; higher and lower levels, long and short term, in world interaction and narrative interaction.
- Real choices with real consequences. No more that transparent illusionary [censored] with blowing up a town with no precautions or considerations (and daddys comments "son I am disappoint. Now lets go clean some water the hardest possible way.").
- More focus on indepth writing, storytelling and characterization.
- More focus on multipath/multisolution quest design.
- More focus on gameplay variety over being just a shooter "running around killing things".

Replace the current fast travel with multiple, more integral to the world and more gameplay centric ways. I.e. The original map travel, a gradually through quests opening trainroute that reaches all major areas, and caravan jobs between settlements; alongside manually walking around.

The gist of what I'm asking for is that while you make the game the way you do, respect the gameplay and design goals and ideals of the series foundation more than the last time. Don't be fine merely throwing some bones in the corner.

I liked it in Skyrim where the best stuff you can get (i Think? is it correct?) is the stuff you build and enchant for yourself, not saying that you should be able to build a Power armor, but modifying it with repair skill, or something like that, would be cool. Also liked the choise to name Equipment.

Perhaps mentioned it Before, but choosing coloring on stuff would be fun too.

Said something like it Before but, being able to see your characters head and face during conversation, it would be nice, after perhaps spending some time making a face, to be able to see it, and not just generally be in first person or having a Power armor helm over your face. Having the option for your character to hold the helm under an arm during conversations, showing both talking.

I would also like having more armor slots, such as legs, arms, chest, like in Skyrim.

Edit: That mage clothing you get from the mage collage, or whatever it is called, might be better then what you make for yourself, or?

What makes it worse is Arcade's comment that you cant just combine two plants to make a healng item...... when you can do that in-game fairly easily.

Why were The Followers having such a hard time doing this?

The problem is that "turning off" Iron sights in NV only moved the gun down about an inch on the screen. It was still ADS shooting, with the gun obscuring half the screen when you tried to aim. All it did was hang slightly lower.

That is not a solution. That just made me feel like I got punked.

Same reason why the Wasteland Survival Guide is on the west coast. Things move via traders and people walking cross country.

Well they put iron sights on weapons for a reason... Aiming. You can still just not use it and shoot from the hip, which wont be as accurate, as it should be. If you don't like gun firing mechanics at all there is VATS so...

Except Iron sights making aiming more difficult, for two reasons
1. They obscure large parts of the screen.... including the part where your target is.
2. They are frequently misaligned, making where you aim, and where you hit, two different places.

The "shoot from the hip zoom" feature, every DECENT FPS uses, is superior for aiming because it does neither of those things

1. It stays out of the middle of the screen, making seeing your target to aim at them easier.

2. Since there's no middle man, like iron sights, to align the gun to, they actually match up with the on screen crosshair far more often.

There is no reason to have crosshairs on any gun, except ultra long range guns like sniper rifles, unless you want them solely for the TACTICOOL REALIZM!, because the "shoot from the hip zoom" does everything else they do, without any of the problems.

At least there's one thing we can agree on.

No... The reason is "me too!". Fallout 2 had jet, and Bethesda cherry picked anything memorable as decoration for their own attempt at a Fallout.

** FO3 shows Jet in apparently untouched pre-war locations that pre-date the invention of Jet; and it's labeled Jet, so it's not a parallel invention by someone else; [which shouldn't even be conceivable, given the origin of Jet]. How many FO3 players even know what Jet is made from?

200 years and untouched...

He's talking about Agave and Mesquite, not about Broc Flower and Xander Root.

It should be confirmed that these plants (BF and XR) are indeed mutated vegetables that have some connection to Stimpaks - maybe they came from the laboratories of it's creators, unintendedly, after the war. This would imo be an elegant way to solve this lore problem (because it certainly is one). At the same time we could solve the mystery of which company created Stims in the first place.

This ought to be a western phenomenon. Stimpaks (like Healing Powder) shouldn't be able to be created in the east, only found. Thus the mystery shouldn't be solved in an eastern game. Reason is, there should be no BF and XR in the east - and thus no such company. There are alternatives (regarding healing items). Think something up that has nothing to do with these. Gives you the opportunity to make Stims quite helpful and rare, as they should be.

The funghi from Little Lamplight could be expanded on for example.

Oh, and about Jet: I know gameplay trumps gameworld-realism in many cases, but one could make a point that the East Coast version is labeled 'Jet' without following Myron's original formula (especially considering Myron's canon ending). The original Jet was a potent drug - not only in effect, but also in prominence. It's almost legendary, which makes it's appearance in the east reasonable. It's thus also reasonable that you'd label your second-class creation 'Jet' to promote sales. Humanity loves drugs, especially in a post-apocalyptic world of suffering.

Iron sights should be an option, but not the default one. Default has a tendency to be the intended experience. That means hardcoe mode (without the chore of primary needs) should be default mode, easy mode should be optional. Hard combat should be normal difficulty mode, utilizing a brilliant AI instead of contrived bullet sponges and simple damage adjustment. Easy should be an option, but not the default one.

The complaint about jet is that it's in pre-war untouched supplies. Since jet addiction was meant to be permanent without the cure, I doubt junkies would just leave it around (if people were to try and make that argument).

Agreed. I would hate for it to be removed. I have a difficult experience without the iron sights.